You are here

Starkville celebrates annual Constitution Week Sept. 17-23

For the Daily News

The City of Starkville joins the Hic-A-Sha-Ba-Ha Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in celebrating Constitution Week, Sept. 17-23.
The tradition of Constitution Week began in 1955 when Gertrude Carraway, President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, submitted a tentative resolution to the National Chairman of the NSDAR Resolutions Committee designating the week as a time to bring the Constitution of the United States and the importance of its preservation to the attention of the American people.
The subsequent resolution was adopted April 21, 1955, by the DAR Continental Congress.
Members of Congress received copies of this DAR resolution; and on June 7, 1955, at a flag presentation to the senate by the DAR Executive Committee, this resolution about Constitution Week was discussed.
On June 7, Senator William F. Knowland, of California, introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 140, authorizing and requesting that President Eisenhower follow the DAR example by proclaiming September 17-23 as Constitution Week.
Following passage of this resolution by both houses of Congress, President Eisenhower issued his Proclamation on August 19, 1955.
The first observance of Constitution Week was so successful that on January 5, 1956, Senator Knowland introduced a Senate Joint Resolution to the President designating September 17-23 annually as Constitution Week. This resolution was adopted on July 23 and became Public Law 915 on August 2, 1956.
The purposes of the observation and celebration of Constitution Week are to emphasize the responsibility of protecting and defending the Constitution and preserving it for posterity; to understand that the Constitution is our great heritage and the foundation of our lives; and to study the historical events which occurred during September 1787.
DAR members across the country are instrumental in seeing that Constitution Week is brought to the attention of all Americans by asking that the Flag of the United States be flown during the week; erecting displays in public buildings; and by providing radio and TV stations with public service announcements on the Constitution.
Does Constitution Week have any significance for you? Ask your self….
• Do you know why the United States Constitution is the fountainhead of our great liberties- religious, political, and economic?
• Do you know how our Constitution enables the United States to go and prosper, becoming the most powerful country in the world while preserving personal freedom?
• Do you know what is in our Constitution that caused these happy results and made us the envy of the world?
If you know the answers to these questions, Constitution Week is the time to share your knowledge with others. If you don’t know the answers, then you have an opportunity- indeed a duty- to study the Constitution to gain a new appreciation of its genius.
The Constitution by its self cannot guarantee freedom. It can only secure freedom so long as we, the people, understand its precepts, guard its principles, and insure its perpetuation.